'Revolting' evidence against Texas man includes videos of group sexual abuse of toddlers: FBI
Kinsey CrowleyA Texas man is in federal custody after the FBI linked him to videos from the dark web depicting group sexual assault on toddlers in a mall.
Arthur Hector Fernandez, 29, was arrested Dec. 18, 2023 in Kingwood, TX as the result of a Dec. 14 criminal complaint filed in federal court in Houston, records show.
According to the complaint, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was contacted by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation earlier in December. The organization shared with the FBI four videos posted on an invitation-only forum on the dark web.
The FBI were able to identify one of the children, less than 3 years old, through social media. A relative of the child was presented with a sanitized image of the video and recognized the bracelets an individual in the video was wearing as belonging to Fernandez, according to the complaint. The two became friends after working at nearby stores at the Galleria Mall in Houston, and he would watch the child for her occasionally while she worked, she told the FBI.
Please people don't let men or teenage boys watch your children. It's not worth the risk.
Investigators believe at least one of the videos is taken in a public restroom because a changing table is present, and the mall has public restrooms with changing tables, the complaint states.
"The evidence in this case is overwhelming and revolting," the judge wrote in a court order requiring Fernandez to remain detained pending trial. "I cannot allow (him) to abuse any other minors and there are no conditions or combination of conditions that can alleviate a danger to the community. This is not a close call."
Fernandez has been charged with the sexual exploitation of children. The public defender listed as Fernandez's attorney did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment Thursday.
Videos showed multiple males sexually abusing children less than 3 years old.
The complaint details the graphic videos, in which the video's creator and one or two other males present sexually abuse two different children, both aged 2 to 3 years old.
The ACCCE shared the videos as they contained two common identifiers: two silver bracelets and white Converse All-Star shoes.
The FBI used an open-source image repository to match one of the toddlers to a relative who posted photos of the child on social media. She told investigators that Fernandez, who formerly worked at the mall, had offered to take care of the child when she could not find childcare. In addition to recognizing the bracelets, she also said Fernandez would often wear white Converse All-Stars.
The FBI also executed a search warrant for Fernandez's address, seizing his electronic devices and three pairs of the sneakers seen in the videos
A search through Fernandez's Instagram account helped the FBI locate a relative of the second minor, the complaint states. She also worked at the mall, and would bring the child to work with her. She also told investigators that Fernandez took the child trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Hundreds of Colorado newspapers stolen day it publishes
story on teen’s alleged rape in police chief’s home
Stacks of local Colorado newspapers were stolen from their racks Wednesday morning — just hours after a bombshell story detailing a teen’s alleged gang rape at the police chief’s home ran on the front page.
The Ouray County Plaindealer broke the shocking news that three teenagers, including Chief Jeff Wood’s son, were accused of sexually assaulting a drunken girl on the bathroom floor as she faded in and out of consciousness.
Readers who preferred the physical paper didn’t get a chance to read the piece, however, according to Plaindeadler co-publisher Erin McIntyre, who authored the story.
“All of our newspaper racks in Ouray and all but one rack in Ridgway were hit by a thief who stole all the newspapers. From what we know so far, it seems this person put in four quarters and took all the papers at these racks,” McIntyre wrote in a Thursday night newsletter.
“It’s pretty clear that someone didn’t want the community to read the news this week. I’ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions on which story they didn’t want you to read,” she continued.
Did you report the theft to the Police Chief?
A suspect was identified Friday, McIntyre said. The person’s identity will remain under wraps until a citation is handed down, but the co-publisher teased that they weren’t related to Wood or the three accused rapists.
According to the Plaindealer’s reporting, a 17-year-old girl told investigators she was raped more than once at Chief Wood’s home in May during a late-night party with his stepson Nate Dieffenderffer and two other men.
Gabriel Trujillo, 20, Ashton Whittington, 18, and a third man were arrested this week on suspicion of sexual assault, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Dieffenderffer was not named by law enforcement because he was a juvenile at the time of the crime.
The victim claimed she passed out from heavy drinking in a bedroom, but woke up naked with Dieffenderffer on top of her, raping her.
The police chief’s stepson restrained her when she tried to fight back and scream as the other suspects, one of whom was laughing, watched, according to court records.
Chief Wood was reportedly sleeping in the home during the assault.
Dieffenderffer and Trujillo then allegedly dragged her into the bathroom, where they took turns abusing her and choking her in an attack that was so brutal that she was left with a chipped tooth, and she told police she remembered washing blood off herself in the shower.
“I remember really trying to yell so that someone would hear me and screaming because of how painful it was,” she told investigators.
Whittington allegedly did not participate but did not intervene.
The girl woke up around 4:30 a.m. on the bathroom floor and, unable to find her clothing so she grabbed a sweatshirt from a pile of laundry, which turned out to belong to Wood.
Evidence collected through a sexual assault examination matched Dieffenderffer and Trujillo, who told investigators the girl was a “pathological liar” and “crazy” but later admitted to having sex with her, according to the Plaindealer.
Wood’s DNA also showed up, but not in a significant amount to reflect wrongdoing.
The chief did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
According to McIntyre, an individual returned a garbage bag stuffed with stolen newspapers to the Plaindealer office Thursday night and confessed to stealing them.
Although police asked the Plaindealer not to give more details at this time, the newspaper teased that the suspect wasn’t related to the defendants or any person in law enforcement.
The paper did emphasize, however, that the theft has only encouraged its team to pursue their work more enthusiastically.
“Whoever did this does not understand that stealing newspapers doesn’t stop a story,” McIntyre wrote in her newsletter, hours before the suspect came forward.
“This person is not going to shut down the freedom of the press by stealing a few hundred newspapers. Our community won’t stand for it and we won’t, either,” she added.
“If you meant to intimidate us, you just strengthened our resolve.”
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